Woman’s illegal travel lands PIA men in trouble

The PIA management has suspended two officials from service for ‘three days’ for allowing a woman passenger to travel to Dubai from Pakistan on her son’s passport.

According to a PIA notification, the officials – Saleem Chohan and Ashraf Taj (passenger service Lahore) – were penalised for their “negligence and carelessness”.

Woman’s illegal travel lands PIA men in trouble

The FIA immigration wing and PIA officials allowed Ms Afshan Siddique to board a flight – PK-203 – for Dubai on the passport of her son on Dec 16. When she reached Dubai, the immigration authorities there detained her and asked her how she had managed to travel on her son’s passport. The passenger told them that she had mistakenly carried her son’s passport and the immigration authorities back home perhaps did not notice that, allowing her to board the flight, the official notification said.

The Dubai immigration deported her, sending her back to Pakistan on the next flight and imposed a fine of 5,000 Dirham on the national flag carrier over the incident. A PIA spokesman said the airlines had taken up the matter with the FIA as the passenger (Ms Siddiqui) was also cleared by the immigration staff of the agency. “As this incident has caused an embarrassment to the PIA as well as the country, it has been decided to take appropriate action against the guilty personnel and also recover the fine amount (5,000 dirhams) from them,” he said.